Josie worked for Zoe but she also had a side baking business. One that she’d kept from Zoe for a long time. It had never been anything that competed with the bakery. Josie only made things that Buttered Up didn’t offer. Zoe had been a stickler for following in her grandmother’s footsteps right down to every single recipe and every single product on the menu, so that hadn’t been difficult.
But Josie had come clean about a month ago and now worked part-time for Buttered Up and part-time for herself.
Whitney shook her head. “No, nothing like that. Grant was in my office discussing the launch of the new snack cake when Cam came in and told him the insurance claims had all been paid and handed him the divorce papers.”
“Insurance claims?” Jane asked.
“For her gall bladder surgery,” Whitney said. “Since they’d just gotten married for the health insurance, Cam was letting Grant know it was all covered and over with. Cam handled all of that paperwork and drew up the divorce papers.” She smiled. “Well, kind of.”
Then she realized the other women weren’t smiling. She looked from Jane to Zoe and then to Josie.
Josie was draining her glass of lemonade.
“What did you need health insurance for?” Zoe demanded.
Oh. Crap.
Whitney grimaced. “You hadn’t told them that part?” she asked Josie.
Josie swallowed her lemonade and vodka. “Nope.”
“Shit.” Well, it had been going well.
“It’s fine.” Josie took a breath and quickly explained that she’d needed to have her gall bladder removed and had been worried about it because she didn’t have health insurance through Buttered Up. Grant had stepped up and offered the idea of getting married, temporarily, so she’d be covered under his.
“But we fell in love and it all worked out wonderfully,” she said. “So the gall bladder thing doesn’t matter.”
“But you were going to get divorced?” Zoe asked. “Cam even drew up the papers?”
“Well, they were really just cat adoption papers,” Whitney jumped in, hoping to help the situation. “They weren’t real divorce papers.”
Zoe and Jane both looked at her with confusion. “Cat adoption papers?”
Whitney nodded quickly. “He came to me upset because Grant thought he wanted to go ahead with the divorce.” Dammit, that didn’t sound right either. She swung toward Josie. “I mean, he didn’t want to get divorced, but he did because he wanted to give you the chance to date him and fall for him for real.” She grimaced. “I mean, not that you didn’t have real feelings for him… he wanted to be sure that you were together because of real feelings rather than because of the insurance.” Dammit, she wasn’t saying this right. She grabbed Josie’s hand. “He knew that he was in love with you,” she said. “When I talked to him he was really torn up about it all. He just wanted a fresh start. To have the relationship develop from the beginning without the money and everything in the way. He didn’t want you to need him. He just wanted you to want him.” Fuck. This still sounded wrong. “I mean… Dammit,” she finally said out loud. “I’m messing this up.” She took a deep breath. “Grant was in love with you and he just wanted to be sure that he was doing the right thing.”
She finally stopped, pressing her lips together.
No one said anything.
She lifted her glass and took a huge gulp, welcoming the feeling of warmth from the vodka spreading down her limbs. And hopefully stopping her runaway tongue.
Finally Zoe spoke. “Wow.”
Yeah. Well, that wasn’t a terrible summary.
“So these cat adoption papers,” Jane said. “Is this why you have Melody, Val, and Alan?”
“Melody, Val, and Alan?” Whitney asked.
“The cats. Two girls and a boy,” Jane said. She grinned. “They’re named after characters from Josie and the Pussycats. Of course.”
Whitney laughed out loud. “Of course. That’s awesome.”
Josie looked pleased. “Grant’s idea, but I think it’s hilarious. Was the cat adoption your idea?”
Whitney shook her head. “Cam. He knew he needed to give you papers for you to both sign, but didn’t want them to be divorce papers.” She looked at Zoe and Jane. “He knew that as soon as Grant and Josie thought they were officially divorced, they’d realize they didn’t want to be. But I agreed. And I helped get them back together by keeping Grant busy at work while Josie planned their romantic dinner.” She looked back to Josie. “And I’ll admit that the three cats might have been me.”
Josie grinned. “Good call.”
“Wait.”
They all looked at Zoe.
“So you’re telling me that my brother, Camden asshole-extraordinaire-never-met-a-fight-he-didn’t-want-to-have-will-argue-with-anyone-about-anything McCaffery recognized that Grant and Josie should be together and worked to keep them married?”
Josie and Whitney both nodded.
“But… asshole extraordinaire is a little harsh isn’t it?” Whitney asked.
Zoe shook her head as if still processing what they’d told her. “Are you trying to tell me that Cam might be… romantic?” She wrinkled her nose as she said it, as if it were just too hard to believe.
But no one answered her. Instead they all looked at Whitney.
She lifted her glass for another drink.
Her last.
There was no lemonade and vodka left when she lowered the glass.
“Well?” Jane asked, lifting a brow. “Is Cam romantic?”
“And why are you assuming I would know?” Whitney asked. Asking a question rather than answering a question turned out to be a great way to avoid lying. She would have to remember that.
The three women snorted.
“Sure, no reason,” Josie said.
“He’s been… sweet. Very supportive. Helpful,” Whitney hedged. Was that romantic? He’d been hot and dirty a couple of times. Sweet and charming several times. But romantic? That she wasn’t so sure of.
“He’s been making you cookies and cake and bars,” Josie pointed out.
“Yeah, Aiden told me about the apron and everything,” Zoe said.
“Oh, Dax told me too,” Jane said. “The housekeeping too. And of course, Didi’s been singing his praises every time we see her.”
Whitney couldn’t help but smile. “Like I said, sweet, and supportive, and helpful.”
“And romantic,” Josie
